Senior judge dismisses Regus appeal bid

A senior appeal court judge has dismissed a bid by Regus Group and its founder Mark Dixon to appeal Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou’s first round victory in his libel action against them. Following a hearing this morning, Keene LJ rejected Dixon’s application for permission to appeal the February decision of High Court judge Sharp J in which he refused to strike out the libel claim as an abuse of process. In the claim filed in June 2008, Sir Stelios alleges, that through a PR company, Dixon and Regus libelled him in comments made to Financial Times reporter Tom Burgis, which were subsequently published on FT.com on 9 May 2008. Sir Stelios claims that the comments caused him to suffer serious injury “because they struck at the heart not only of his professional but also his personal reputation, as well as attacking his core values, such as honesty and integrity”. Dismissing the application, Sharp J said: “I am unable to conclude that it is likely that there has been no damage to Sir Stelios’s reputation, or that his claim is not genuine as suggested, or that if this matter went to trial, the amount of damages he would be awarded would be trivial or insignificant.” The trial of the main action will take place on 7 December.